Have you gone through all those documents and items you copied, saved, printed, etc. in the early days of your research to see exactly where they were originally located? Many of us, when beginning our research, do not adequately track where something was found. I recently came across a transcription of a will of an ancestor where I only listed the county where the item was located, the title of the book and the page numbers. The volume designation apparently was of no interest to me and neither was the format of the information (original, microfilm, transcript, etc.). Completely those citations can help to correct errors and realize what was overlooked when research skills were less finely honed.
How often do you update old file formats? I was fortunate that some WordStar files I created years ago and originally were saved on 5.25″ floppy disks were eventually migrated to more up-to-date media and eventually placed on a hard drive. That folder of files was eventually dumped into a set of work-related items that was placed on the server we used at my former place of employment where they sat (after being migrated and updated numerous times) until I downloaded the files when I retired. I was lucky to still have them. I was also fortunate that the format was readable by Google Docs with minimal difficulty in formatting (I originally used WordStar to create the files in the late 1980s). That’s the difficulty with older digital […]
I posted this to my Facebook page but thought it made an excellent tip as well. It’s Mother’s Day in the US. Do you have a female other than your mother who was a strong influence in your life? Have you documented that relationship in your genealogical files about yourself? If you have a relative that you know had a significant maternal influence who wasn’t their mother, have you documented that as well? Keep in mind that we may have ancestors whose “functional mother” was not their biological or legal mother. Many times these individuals were aunts, grandmothers, step-mothers, etc. (those are in alphabetical order intentionally) but not always. Those relationships outside the ones of the immediate family were important to many of us…they were often important to […]
While FindAGrave is not perfect, there may be a clue in the person who created or maintains the memorial for that distant relative. Sometimes those individuals are descendants of the deceased and, to be honest, sometimes those individuals are memorial collectors bent on getting as many names as possible. The majority are somewhere in between with many focused on preserving memorial information before it is lost forever. It still be worth a few minutes of time to reach out to that person to see if they are related to the deceased or if they have any information beyond the memorial
If your relative was a member of a religious order is it possible that in some records their first name is Sister, Brother, or perhaps another title associated with their role in the order?
If you ancestor’s first name is Christian, consider searching for him as “Xtian” as this was an occasional abbreviation for the name. Thanks to MR for reminding me of this tip.
Paying real property taxes in a location means that the person paying the taxes has an ownership interest in property in that location. It does not guarantee that they live in that location. Non-residents paying property taxes in a area are most likely to be land speculators, have formerly lived in the area, inherited property in the area, or to have received land as a benefit for military service. There may be a possible other reason, but those scenarios fit the majority of cases.
Locating your ancestor in a draft registration means that they were legally obligated to register and that the draft records have been preserved. Registering for the draft is not the same thing as enlisting in the service or actually being drafted. FamilySearch has draft cards from World War I and information about various draft cards from World War II. The FamilySearch Wiki has information on Civil War Union draft records. Get the Genealogy Tip of the Day book.
An uncle’s obituary and biography in the county history indicated served in the Union during the US Civil War. I found records of his enlistment which were consistent with statements made in the obituary and biography. He died in the 1930s and based upon his service likely would have qualified for a pension. Yet the various indexes to Civil War pensions did not include a reference to him having received a pension. When I obtained his compiled military service record, I determined the reason he had no pension: he deserted. Many servicemen during the Civil War deserted. My uncle and a few other men in his unit had “gone home” while their unit was in Kansas after the war ended–but before they had been officially discharged. They were […]
Before using a genealogical record, ask yourself how some one gets listed in a record and what would prevent them from being listed in a record? Land owners are in property tax records. Residents of a certain location are in a census record. An individual who dies with no money is usually not the subject of a probate record. A person who is not born in a certain location is not in a birth record there. Sometimes the reasons are obvious and sometimes they are not, but thinking about how someone gets in a record and what might preclude them from being in a record is always helpful.
It is always helpful to know what it is you are using. Several years ago a researcher indicated they had purchased a book of maps for their county of interest showing landowners created from federal land transactions. They were excited about the book and then I asked them when their family of interest moved to the area. It was fifty years after initial settlement started. They then told me their families were not in the book. That’s because none of their family obtained federal land. While maps are always helpful to help with geographic perspective, my friend might have gotten more use of out one contemporary to his research, one with more geographic and topographical features, one showing modern landowners and features, etc. Maps of first landowners can […]
The funeral home your ancestors used may have records that could help you in your research. However, keep in mind that funeral homes change names and owners over time and tracking down the current name and location of operations may take some time. Newspapers, websites of current funeral homes, Google searches for former home addresses, and reaching out to residents in the area (including libraries and historical/genealogical societies) are some good ways to get started trying to locate the records. Remember that funeral home records are private company records and that the business has no obligation to provide you with information. Be polite, courteous, and respectful when requesting information.
Despite having “done genealogy” for decades and knowing full well the distinctions in varying degrees of cousinship (including the “removed” part), I generally refer to a cousin of any degree as just that: a cousin. I don’t specify that someone is my first cousin once removed, my second cousin, my third cousin twice removed, etc. It important to remember that a relative may write the word “cousin” on the back of a photograph and not meant first cousin. The best bet is to transcribe the item as written, indicate (if known) who wrote it, and go from there. Aunts may not be a sister of the person’s parent. Uncles may not be biologically related or even married to an aunt. In some families the terms “aunt” and “uncle” […]
When viewing records created during the marriage process, remember that a couple is not married until the officiant declares them married in a legal ceremony. Licenses, engagement announcements, banns, etc. indicate the intention to marry is there, but until the ceremony has been legally performed, the couple is not married.
Remember that it is entirely possible that a list of grandchildren in an obituary may list grandchildren who are actually step-children of a child of the deceased who is no longer married to the spouse from whom they acquired the step-child. If the grandparents considered their child’s step-child their grandchild, that relationship and consideration may not have ended when their child’s marriage to the parent of the step-child ended. While these relationships may matter greatly to the individuals involved, DNA is only concerned about which individuals reproduced with which individuals.
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